Eisteddfod goes back to black

* Selwyn Evans, Treasurer of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has staged a dramatic reversal of fortune - by making a profit for the first time in five years and providing a £1.5 million boost to the local economy.

While other festivals have struggled, the world-renowned event defied the recession and bad weather to record a profit of £22,668 after a number of difficult years.

Meanwhile, advance sales for this year's International Eisteddfod are already breaking previous records.

Last year’s event attracted 36,000 people and with an average daily visitor spend of £42 that adds up to a massive £1.5 million cash injection to the local economy.

The result has been welcomed by Eisteddfod treasurer Selwyn Evans who said: “This is very encouraging after a number of difficult years and the fact that it was achieved against the odds is also significant.

“Not only did we manage it in the worst economic downturn in our 67-year history we also did it in a very wet week in the middle of the wettest summer on record.

“That did affect daytime ground admissions in particular but we managed to more than maintain our concert attendance figures.

“That was down to the extremely hard work of the staff, one only of whom was full time, and our dedicated army of volunteers and helpers.

“Our aim now is to improve on this result in 2013 and continue improving in subsequent years and to do that every line of income and expenditure will continue to be carefully monitored in order to achieve our aim.

“But what we will also do is continue to back our Musical Director and his plans for the future and to maintain the standards of our superlative concert lineup and the wonderful atmosphere that the Eisteddfod always creates on the field and in the town.”

This year’s Eisteddfod starts on Tuesday, July 9, and runs until Sunday, July 14, when a concert by keyboard king Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra will be the climax to six days of music and dance and competitions.

Also in a star-studded line-up are a Strictly Cuban evening featuring Strictly Come Dancing stars James and Ola Jordan and the music of Havana’s Buena Vista Social Club.

Concerts include a performance of Verdi’s Requiem on the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s birth and performances from harpist Claire Jones, tenor Noah Stewart, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie as well as Only Men Aloud on the Choir of the World competition night, Saturday, July 13.

Advance sales for this year’s concerts are going very well and Selwyn Evans added: “In just four weeks we have sold £170,000 worth of tickets and are more than halfway to our target for the year.

“The Jools Holland concert is already over half sold and there is also lots of demand for the other events, especially Strictly Latin and Only Men Aloud.

“That’s very poitive and we’re really pleased with the results after a few very tough years.

“To have turned it round the way we have is a wonderful achievement.”

The 67^th Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod kicks off on Tuesday, July 9, with International Children’s Day including interactive performances from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the colourful procession of the competitors to the Royal International Pavilion, led by Eisteddfod President Terry Waite, CBE, the former Archbishop’s Special Envoy and a long-time supporter.

The evening concerts start with Tuesday night’s Carnival of Nations featuring four of Wales’s finest male voice choirs, the Rhos Orpheus, Cor Godre’r Aran, Cor y Brythoniaid and the chart topping Fron Choir, performing on the 60^th anniversary of the historic visit of Germany’s Obernkirchen Choir. They will be joined by the St Melodians Steel Band, from Trinidad and international competitors.

Wednesday night will feature An Evening with Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie who will be joined by the rising American tenor Noah Stewart and harpist Claire Jones, former official harpist to HRH the Prince of Wales, along with the Eisteddfod Orchestra and the Santo Tomas Choir from the Philippines, twice Choir of the World winners.

Thursday will be Strictly Cuban, a celebration of Latin dance rhythms with James and Ola Jordan and the Buena Vista Social Club while Friday will be VERDI 200, a performance of Verdi’s Requiem by to mark the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s birth with Claire Rutter, Mirouslava Yordanova , Gwyn Hughes Jones, Jonathan Lemalu and accompanied by the Eisteddfod Orchestra conducted by Andrew Greenwood.

Saturday is Choir of the World which this year will also feature Only Men Aloud, Last Choir Standing TV winners while for the first time dance will be teamed with choral music on Saturday night as the Eisteddfod’s top two dance troupes dance off for the new Dance Champions 2013 Trophy.

On Sunday keyboard king Jools Holland will bring the house and the curtain down with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and a special guest before the traditional firework show finale.

Tickets for this year’s concerts are general sale and are available from the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

For more information on this year’s event check out the website or go to Facebook at www.facebook.com/llangollen

llanblogger passes page-view milestone

For the first time since its launch eight months ago, llanblogger has today clocked up an incredible 500 page views in a single day.

And the grand total of views since it first went online last June has at the same time just passed through the 52,000 mark.

For a small hometown online news site we believe that's a fantastic achievement and we would like to thank all our readers - old and new - for helping us to pass these are two significant milestones.

Please keep logging on - and contacting us on llanblogger@gmail.com

Breaking weather news

Breaking news from Llangollen Railway ....

 

Due to further snowfall in North Wales especially the Dee Valley, all Train Services (Sunday and onwards) will be SUSPENDED until further notice.

A minimum of 12 hours notice will be given for the resumption of Services.

 

Operations Department

 

 Update on Denbighshire roads

Motorists are being advised that a number of roads in Denbighshire are closed due to the heavy snow that is continuing to affect the region.

The roads currently closed are:

• A5 Corwen to Llangollen (due to overhanging trees and snow) - the road is open from Llangollen towards the Wrexham direction.
• A5104 Closed Corwen to Llandegla
• A542 Horseshoe Pass between Llandegla and Llangollen
• B4501 Llyn Brenig
• B5431 into Llanarmon yn Ial village.

Most minor roads in the county are also closed. Other main routes are open, but motorists are advised to take extra care and only travel if absolutely necessary.

The snow is expected to ease later tonight, but drifting continues to be a risk across the county and ice is expected to be an additional hazard.

Whiteout ... then a blackout for Llan

Late update

We understand that residents in some parts of town only had their power restored at around 6pm today (Saturday). At one point, some residents also temporarily lost their water supply.

 

+ TV signals continued to be disrupted by the snow. On satellite systems they can be caused by snow blocking the receiver dish.

 

Reader pictures ...

Please keep them coming

 

 

 

* Not a pleasant picture this one. It came in from Mrs Mary Rogers, who said: "This was the disaster we woke up to in Pengwern this morning. The weight of snow caused the

carport to rip off wall right on top of my son's Cosworth. PS: the pedestrians on Regent St this morning were myself and my husband out to get a loaf.

 

 

 

* Top of Pengwern from Ged Manley.

 

 

 

* Jude Williams has just sent us this one in captioned "Trench digging on the Geraint".

Thanks Jude!

 

 

 

 

* An almost deserted Castle Street this morning.

Llangollen people awoke this morning (Saturday) to find even more snow … and no power.

And llanblogger is only now able to bring you a report it because the electricity supply to our property near the centre of town was only restored at 1.20pm.

The BBC is reporting on its North East Wales website that 6,000 homes in Llan and the Dee Valley generally were subjected to a power cut because of continuing heavy snow.

The problem in is Llan is believed to have been caused by a break in power lines perhaps caused by a falling tree.

 

(Right top: Whiteout at the station and, below, pedestrians walk in the roadway in Regent Street).   

 

Some residents were reporting that they heard a loud bang from somewhere in the area at around 3am on Saturday accompanied by a blue flash which lit up the entire sky.

The blackout crippled the town centre, with many shops remaining closed because they had no electricity to power lights or computerised tills.

Amongst the few shops which remained open were Gwyn’s the butchers, Gerrards bakery, Lee’s newsagents and the greengrocers opposite.

The chemist shop in Regent Street was also providing a limited service for prescriptions.

Later in the morning the Co-op in Regent Street opened but queues formed outside when a limit was placed on the number of customers allowed in the darkened shop.

Snow, sometimes heavy, continued to fall thoughout the morning. Added to accumulations from the previous day this led to treacherous conditions underfoot.

Many pavements in and around the town centre have disappeared under large banks of snow over a foot deep in places.

A limited volume of traffic along the A5 was reduced to a crawl during the morning as pedestrians took to the carriageway rather than risk negotiating the untreated pavements.

Many people remain blocked into their own driveways with their cars buried under deep snow.   

Electricity companies say repairs to the supply network was being hampered by the conditions and road closures.

Scottish Power said it managed to reconnect a number of properties on Friday which had lost power, only to receive a new batch of faults on Saturday.

Turning much colder overnight, a widespread frost is likely and ice could also cause a few problems.

The A5 west of Llangollen in the direction of Corwen remains closed due to fallen trees and the Horseshoe Pass is closed for the usual safety reasons.

If you have snow or power cut stories or pictures, send them us at llanblogger@gmail.com and we’ll share them with our readers.

Country market falls victim to the snow

Gill Thomas, who is in charge of the weekly Country Market at Llangollen Town Hall, has sent the following message:

"Unfortunately, the Llangollen Country Market could not open this morning as none of our producers were able to get down to the Town Hall.

 

"We will not be open next Friday as it is Good Friday but hope things will be back to normal on the following Friday.

 

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to our customers."

Full report on annual town meeting

Fewer than 30 people attended the annual town meeting in Llangollen on Thursday evening.

But those who did show up at the Town Hall created a lively atmosphere of questions to the mayor, Cllr Jon Haddy, and debate.

Cllr Haddy, now in his second term as mayor, first gave a run-down on town council activity over the past year.

He described it as “an interesting one” which had seen some major changes for the council.

Last May had been the first time in a few years when an election for councillors had been necessary due to more people standing than there had been vacant places.

The current council would serve for five years rather than the previous four to come in line with five-year Parliaments, explained the mayor adding that “new blood” on the council always improved matters.

A new town clerk in the shape of Gareth Thomas had also taken up his post after replacing Ian Parry when he retired last June.

One of the main things done by the council during the year, explained the mayor, had been arranging to take over the town hall from Denbighshire County Council.

Cllr Haddy said he felt the county council had been “shirking” when it came to maintenance of the building and that the costs of its upkeep had been escalating.

“There was a very real chance this town hall would close and it was very sensible that after negotiations with the county council we took it back into our ownership,” he said, explaining that the building had originally been transferred into the ownership of the county council from the former urban district council as part of local government reorganisation in the 1970s.

However, he pointed out that “substantial sums” needed to be spent to bring it up to top condition.

Therefore, he said, the council’s principal objective was to “get someone else to pay for it”.

This, he revealed, could be achieved by the council retaining ownership while transferring the lease to a management company or a charity, while still ensuring the hall was run on its behalf.

The costs of hiring the town hall, said the mayor, would be changing “slightly” in April with some charges being increased while others would be reduced.

He explained that the cost of maintaining the town hall was currently met from the precept element of the council tax and rent income from the shops on Castle Street at the front of the building.

Cllr Haddy also outlined the need for volunteers to act as stewards during events held at the town hall.

The mayor then moved on to deal with other key events during the year, including the closure of the cottage hospital and the go-ahead for a new Sainsbury’s supermarket on the A5.

The hospital issue, he said, had “engendered a lot of local anger”.

He explained: “We did not oppose the closure but we made it clear that this should not be done until alternatives were in place.”

He added: “Personally, I believe that the health board have not behaved particularly honourably in this matter and haven’t done what they said they would do   

“There seems to have been no logical and cogent argument why a 137-year-old building no longer exists.”

He said he had heard the Welsh Government had allocated over £20 million for a replacement health centre in Denbighshire, adding: “I am hopeful that something will be done but don’t hold your breath.”

On the supermarket issue, Cllr Haddy said: “As a council we were unable to object to it because of planning law,” but he added that he realised quite a few people in the town were “not very keen on the idea” although he realised opinion was split.

He said he had received unconfirmed reports that the new store may be completed by August of 2014.

Touching briefly on the preparation of a new Town Plan, the mayor said one of its facets was the bid for Llangollen to obtain Cittaslow status.

This, he explained, was a worldwide marketing organisation with quality of life and living at its heart.

The council had agreed in principle to join it and a working group under the chairmanship of Cllr Phil Thane was currently preparing to submit the official bid.

The mayor then dealt with the restoration of the Chain Bridge, which he said was a joint project between the town council and Llantysilio Community Council.

A first round application to the Heritage Lottery Fund had brought the cash to commission an engineer’s survey on the facelift and a further bid for the money to pay for the project had just been submitted to the same body, he said.

He added: “It is looking extremely hopeful. If we are successful work could start in late summer or early autumn. This will open up a complete new circular walk between the A5 and the wharf by the Chain Bridge Hotel.”

Cllr Haddy said the council was still in the process of developing the Royal Gardens after acquiring them from the Royal Hotel last year.

The aim, he said, was to make them a pleasant place to sit and meet people.

Grant aid was now being sought to take the facelift project forward.

The mayor added: “By next year it will either be under way or completed.”

After delivering his report on the past year, he invited questions from the floor.

One of the first questioners asked what the town council could do to deal with the derelict River Lodge and the empty Upper Dee Mill opposite on one of the main approaches to the town.

The mayor replied the council was aware of this problem and had “made noises” about it in the appropriate places. However, there was nothing directly it could do as River Lodge was owned by the Welsh Government and the mill by a private developer.

In another question, the mayor was asked for more detail on the Royal Garden facelift plan as there was some concern expressed from the floor about what affect this would have on the adjacent war memorial.

He replied that the two areas were being treated quite separately, with plans being in hand to lay York stone flooring in the flat area around the memorial.

Next question came from County Councillor Stuart Davies who challenged the amount of money being spent by the council on the town hall and a CCTV system which did not seem to be working properly.

Cllr Haddy replied that the cost of maintaining the town hall was equivalent to £5 per local household a year.

He added that the council gave value for money and that if anyone thought differently they were quite able to challenge it.

There were further questions on town hall repairs, the Royal Gardens project financing, the poor state of the canal towpath between Llangollen Wharf and the concreted area, and problems with local police response.

Members of the audience asked why no police representative was present at the meeting.

The mayor responded that the meeting was intended solely to deal with town council matters, but he added that policing of the area had improved dramatically over the past 12 months.

Another question from the floor dealt with the Christmas lights, with the questioner saying: “What we have now is not good enough.”

Cllr Haddy replied that the council would perhaps consider fresh options for the lights arrangement at the end of the three-year arrangement into which it had entered with contractors.

A written question submitted by local campaigner Martin Crumpton asked whether the council would consider setting up a committee exploring its own openness and looking into broadcasting its meetings via Skype or interactive websites.

Cllr Haddy responded: “We are already as open as any organisation can be.”

He added that the council published its minutes on its own website or noticeboard and members of the public were entitled to attend its monthly meetings.

If people disagreed with what the council did there were plenty of opportunities for monitoring its activities, he pointed out.

He revealed the council was currently planning to expand its website to make it “more useful” but, although admitting it was technically possible, ruled out the possibility of Skypeing or the online transmission of meetings, partly on the basis of cost.

One of the final questions from the floor dealt with what the council was doing to attract more visitors into the town.

Cllr Haddy replied there had been a suggestion from the county council that the town council takes over the running of the Tuesday market.

He said: “This is something we will consider because when you have a busy market you have a busy town.”

The meeting closed at around 8.45pm with the mayor thanking people for their attendance.       

Latest weather update:

Update at 1.46pm

 

* A diesel day event planned for Llangollen Railway tomorrow (Saturday) has been cancelled due to the snow, according to railway spokesman George Jones. 

 

He said: "For once the snow has beaten even the heritage railway, but we have to be aware of the difficulties our staff and would-be passengers might face in getting to Llangollen and other stations on the Dee Valley line."

  

 

 

* 12.40pm: Bread van stuck on Co-op car park.

 

LeaderLive.co.uk ‏@leaderlive 17m        

Patients traveling to Wrexham Maelor Hospital: all outpatient appointments have been cancelled due to difficulties with transport.

 

Latest situation report from Denbighshire County Council ...

At 10.30am the press office said:

Arriva is operating normally from Rhyl west along the coast and south to Denbigh. The service 11 group from Rhyl and Prestatyn towards Holywell, Flint and Chester is currently terminating at Greenfield only.

GHA is operating normally between Ruthin, Denbigh and Rhyl only.

Other GHA services from Ruthin and Denbigh are NOT operating. This includes buses between Ruthin and Mold, Ruthin and Denbigh and Ruthin and Corwen. Buses are not operating between Denbigh and Mold.

I have no up-to-date information on the services along the A5 (X94, 5). My understanding is that neither of these services are operating. If they are running, expect considerable delays on the A5.




As expected the snow moved in last night with strong winds and severe
drifting. There are reports of up to 25 cms of level snow in some parts of
the county with deep drifts in many places.

Crews have been out all night and will continue throughout the day. One of the main problems is fallen
trees and the Council arranged for contractors  to be out since 4 am trying to clear these.
Additional contractors have now also been deployed.

In terms of road closures the list is as follows:-

A5 is still blocked by fallen trees between Llangollen and Corwen
A5104 between Llandegla and Corwen
A542 Horseshoe Pass.
Gwaenysgor Hill, Prestatyn
Fforddlas, Prestatyn - due to a fallen electricity pole.

Many minor roads are impassable but the Council has deployed the agricultural
contractors to clear these.

At the moment the crews in the south are concentrating on keeping the A
roads open as conditions are particularly difficult on the A494 at the
Clwyd Gate and along the A525 between Ruthin and Wrexham. Crews in the
north are working on Rhuallt hill on the A55 and in the Tremeirchion area
where conditions are again relatively bad.

Public Realm operatives are working to clear snow in Ruthin and Llangollen
town centres.

The public should take every care this morning as the drifting nature of the snow.  It is also very wet snow so it is bringing down a lot
of trees with it which are an added hazard.

Llangollen Library is closed due to the weather.

A number of Denbighshire schools are closed due to heavy snow affecting the region.
 
The schools closed are: 
Ysgol Dyffryn Ial, Bryneglwys and Llandegla sites
Ysgol Bro Fammau, Llanarmon yn Ial site
Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen
Ysgol Caer Drewyn, Corwen
Ysgol Clocaenog
Ysgol Cyffylliog
Ysgol Gymraeg y Gwernant, Llangollen
Ysgol Pant Pastynog, Prion
Ysgol Pendref, Denbigh
Ysgol Pentrecelyn
Ysgol Rhewl
Ysgol Tremeirchion
St Brigid's School, Denbigh
Plas Cefndy, Rhyl
Project 10 and 11
Ysgol Dinas Bran, Llangollen
Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn- secondary site.
Ysgol Carrog
Ysgol y Llys
Ysgol Bro Elwern
Ysgol Betws GG
Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch, Llanrhaeadr
Ysgol Llanfair DC
 
 
The Council is urging people to be extremely cautious on the county's roads and to continue monitoring weather and news bulletins for the latest information on the weather situation. Further heavy snow is forecast during the day.

 

 

Leaderlive are tweeting like mad on the weather.

Follow them at LeaderLive.co.uk ‏@leaderlive 7m 
              

A lorry has gone over on the Wrexham by pass,huge traffic jams. cars abandoned on B&Q roundabout due to snow

 

 

Arriva Buses Wales ‏@arrivabuswales 25m

WEATHER UPDATE 8.50am- WREXHAM #snow NO WREXHAM SERVICES WILL OPERATE FOR THE REST OF THE DAY AS THE DEPOT HAS BEEN CLOSED.

 

 

Roads affected

• A470: Blocked - snow, Mallwyd, Gwynedd.
• A5: Closed - snow and fallen tree, Corwen, Denbighshire; partially blocked - fallen tree, Froncysyllte, Wrexham
• A525: Closed - snow, Nant-y-Garth Pass, Llandegla, Denbighshire
• A542: Closed - snow, Horseshoe Pass, Denbighshire
• A4061: Hazardous driving - snow Rhigos mountain road, Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf
• A55: Strong winds, Gwynedd; hazardous driving - snow, Conwy.

Source: police and Trunk Road Agency

GHA coaches said it was unable to operate its services in Wrexham and Denbighshire due to the weather.

There are currently 59 school(s) closed or partially closed within Wrexham County Borough.

These include Acrefair CP School